The Harlem Wildcats came back to earth this past weekend in Roundup. Harlem began the season with two nice wins for their first winning streak in years. Head Coach Derek Azure has done a remarkable job laying out his plans for the team as well as the future. To their credit the 11 kids that have suited up have been all in on their coach's plan.

Friday in Roundup the Wildcats matched the Panthers play for play. Harlem scored early on a five play , 70 yard drive that culminated with junior quarterback Mikkel Rider finding junior Darrius LongKnife for a touchdown.

Midway into the second quarter, and Harlem trailing 14-8, the Wildcats put together a nice drive. After taking over at their own 35 yard line the Wildcats mixed senior runningbacks Andrew Rasmussen and Rider rushes moving the ball into Panther territory.

Rider found junior Amari Stanley for 14 yards to the Roundup 30. Rasmussen added a couple of five yard runs and following a penalty that backed the Wildcats up, Rider found Rasmussen in the flat for a gain down to the 5 yard line.

Harlem would not be able to convert the promising drive however, swinging the momentum in the Panthers favor. Roundup spread the Wildcats out, scoring two plays later on a 76 yard bomb with 8:33 remaining in the second for a 22-8 Panther lead.

Harlem competed valiantly the remainder of the contest, playing each snap like it was the first of the game.

Coach Azure prides himself on having his team ready physically and well conditioned. Harlem has just 11 players playing 11 man football. True Ironman football is what they have been playing and their effort showed.

"I liked our heart that we competed with. Our kids played with full intensity every snap and in order to maintain that you can't have any mental break downs and I'm really proud of them for that," said Azure. "We had a couple let downs, penalties, some things that affected us mentally and if we hadn't done that we would have been in the game a while longer."

The Wildcats have been predominantly a rushing team, "Had we been able to establish our running game it would have been a different outcome. Andrew suffered a pretty good ankle injury and that affected our ability to really get it going but he played hard and competed until the end," added Azure.

Junior John Hughes Jr. has also made some big plays for the Wildcats this fall.

The Wildcats will face another stiff test this weekend, "Glasgow is established, their kids are big, they're well coached they have a history. We are going to have to be on top of our assignments and have no mental let downs and have no lapses in our concentration," said Azure. "We couldn't really get any rhythm to our offense as a result, I'm a pass first coach which is odd coming from a guy who played runningback but these kids have really proved me wrong and we have adjusted our play calling accordingly, now it's just a mater of finding that balance.

Despite the setback, Azure likes where his team is at, "In order to continue to get better we have to keep up our intensity play hard like we've been doing regardless of the outcome, if we keep building and working hard on what we have done good things are sure to follow."